De La Soul and Tommy Boy Records have been attempting to reach an agreement regarding the trio’s extensive catalog for several months. But according to a recent Instagram post, it looks like those negotiations have fallen flat.
On Thursday (August 8), Pos, Maseo and Dave issued a statement to their collective account and explained why they wouldn’t be cosigning their first six albums being released on any digital platforms, including 1989’s 3 Feet High & Rising, 1991’s De La Soul Is Dead, 1993’s Buhloone Mindstate and 1996’s Stakes Is High — all Tommy Boy releases.
Tommy Boy’s founder and CEO Tom Silverman still owns all of De La’s masters.
“Well friends, after 30 years of profiting from our music and hard work… and after 7 long months of stalled negotiations, we are sad to say that we’ve been unable to reach an agreement and earn Tommy Boy’s respect for our music/legacy,” the caption reads. “With some helpful consulting and long careful consideration, we’ve decided we will not do our 30+ years the disservice of settling on Tom Silverman’s terms. Tommy Boy says they are ‘not in the business of giving artists back their Masters.’
“We realize, there is a process in reclaiming ownership but we do not trust Tommy Boy in this process after so many years of disappointment. Therefore, our catalog will not see the light of day by way of our involvement or consent. This means, if you see De La Soul music/albums available for streaming or purchase anywhere, BE AWARE, all parties involved WILL profit but De La Soul WILL NOT benefit or earn deservedly/fairly.”
The iconic New York-bred trio ended their explanation on a high note and thanked their fans for standing behind them.
“We really tried,” the post concluded. “More details to come. Nevertheless, our fans have/will keep our legacy alive! We appreciate and ask for your continued support. Onto new things, new music and more amazing respectful business relationships.”
Maseo reiterated to HipHopDX in all caps, “TOMMY BOY ARE NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF GIVING PUBLISHING AND MASTERS!”
In February, Maseo opened up about the effects the whole ordeal has had on them during an interview with DX.
“There’s been a lot of pain and suffering through this,” he said. “To even take care of my family, I had to tour like a mother fucker. Do you know all the things I’ve missed because of shit like this? I’m not substantially living the way as it appears to be.”
De La’s situation prompted a “#TommyBoycott,” which was led by The Roots’ Questlove. Soon, fellow artists such as Nas, Pete Rock and A Tribe Called Quest’s Jarobi joined in, giving Maseo a little room to breathe.
“I’m through the hiccup,” he said. “The world knows. JAY-Z knows. Questlove knows. Ebro knows. Apple Music knows. Everybody knows! I really feel free at this point. I’m honestly ready to move on with my life. 30 years!?
“We already missed the download era. I already got my grey hairs [laughs]. I’m alright. I think what’s happening now that’s atypical De La, you get clowned now. It’s like, we don’t expect you to change. Get the fuck outta here now.”
In the wake of the #TommyBoycott, the label momentarily halted the release of De La’s digital catalog and continued negotiations but ultimately couldn’t resolve the issue.
DX has reached out to Tommy Boy for comment.
why would they give them their masters? that would be a horrible business move costing them thousands of dollars.
It is a fulfillment move depending on there contract. If They fulfilled there financial obligation making the company a certain amount or any number if things. Prince went thru the same thing. It is not for us to assume. But there have been plenty of people who got there masters back. If Vanilla Ice can have his masters, why not De LA Soul. What is known is that record labels will companies have been known to cheat and lie to artist to keep the gravy train going.
what does Vanilla Ice have to do with this?
hes someone who got his masters back dipshit
still irrelevant you f*cking moron. I’d love to see De la go to Tommy Boy’s management pleading there case with “but Vanilla Ice got his masters back”. GTFOH with that garbage
still irrelevant you f*cking moron. I’d love to see De la go to Tommy Boy’s management pleading their case with “but Vanilla Ice got his masters back”. GTFOH with that garbage
How bout because they EARNED it and Tommy Boy has a history of doing their artists dirty. Do your homework! Tommy Boy has made enough money off a De La and hip hop period.
I’m not saying it’s morally right but I’m assuming they are under contract. If anyone is at fault here it would be De La Soul for allowing them to have control over the catalog. I don’t see how Tommy Boy is the bad guy here.
This is a shame that after 30 years, Tommy Boy doesn’t appreciate their artists (men that Tom Silverman personally knows) to provide them the ability to have a bigger cut of the pie. De La provided him more than enough of the share for many years. Contracts in the early years were exploitative of the artists who were doing it for the love. They were written into excessively long and lopsided deals that unequally served the label.
After some time, the artist becomes aware of how one-sided the deal is and Tommy never once saw it in his heart to change things to make it right,and continued to exploit De La???
It would be different if this was a one-hit wonder artist, who moved on to something else, but these guys continued to put out really good work for which Tommy continued to make them operate under a less than equitable contract.
Time to do the right thing Silverman. Tommy Silverman should have any positive aspect to his hip hop legacy erased for not correcting and rectifying a wrong that has been perpertrated for sooooo long.
Ohhhh your bleeding heart
Before you young cats get in the music business educate yourself.
these guys are some annoying crybabies. why dont they get inte lab and make a new clasic album or film or something to earn revenue?
Of course they are not in the business of giving masters back, thats the nature of the beast. Why would anybody be surprised by that? These guys made a really dumb decision when they were young, and it sucks for them but it is what it is. There is no revisionist history when it comes to a signed contract, they dont get a redo just because they are black.
industry rule number 180….. all these “street” cats out here cant help? g zimmerman & others still walking around lol the mafia knew how to handle situations like this oh well skinny jean culture not so much its not like u cant down the entire catalouge in 5 minutes never understood the streaming thing seems like a waste of bandwidth
i dont care who profits can i get a copy of de la soul is dead somewhere?
And their ways of sampling didn’t help them…Tommy boy dished out at least a million over sampling. Hip Hop is too much hustle, not enough lasting skill…create your own music..pick up an instrument…it will save you having to deal with this type of bs because you won’t need a label deal to help you pay for “needing” samples. I love De La this is unfortunate